Quick-change picture mount

ABSTRACT

Clamping bars embrace the edge of a glass pane and hold it against a rear wall. The clamping bars are disposed on two opposite sides of the mount and comprise each a spring loop having shorter and longer spring legs. The shorter spring leg is connected to the rear wall. The longer spring leg has a free end portion formed on its inside with a detent nose, which tapers toward the extreme outer end of the longer leg so that the same can yield resiliently when the glass pane is urged against the detent noise until the latter snaps in over the glass pane to hold the same in position on the rear wall.

United States Patent Rochelt [15] 3,654,719 1 Apr.11,1972

[54] QUICK-CHANGE PICTURE MOUNT [72] Inventor: Gunter Rochelt, Wagnerstrabe 113, P777,

Ulm, Germany Notice: The portion of the term of this patent subsequent to Apr. 11, 1988, has been disclaimed.

[22] Filed: Jan. 22, 1968 [21] Appl. No.: 699,442

[52] U.S. Cl ..40/l56 2,895,247 7/1959 Beck et a1. ..40/ l 52 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 812,030 8/1951 Germany ..40/1 52 Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell Assistant Examiner-Wenceslao J. Contreras Attomey-Fleit, Gipple & Jacobson [57] ABSTRACT Clamping bars embrace the edge of a glass pane and hold it against a rear wall. The clamping bars are disposed on two opposite sides of the mount and comprise each a spring loop having shorter and longer spring legs. The shorter spring leg is connected to the rear wall. The longer spring leg has a free end portion formed on its inside with a detent nose, which tapers toward the extreme outer end of the longer leg so that the same can yield resiliently when the glass pane is urged against the detent noise until the latter snaps in over the glass pane to hold the same in position on the rear wall.

9 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure QUICK-CHANGE PICTURE MOUNT This invention relates to a quick-change picture mount, which comprises a rear wall or backing plate, a glass pane adapted to be clamped against said rear wall, and clamping bars which embrace the edge of the glass pane and hold it on the rear wall.

Picture mounts of this type are known and have been sold for some time. To connect the glass pane and rear wall, additional clips are pushed over these two parts, or wire spring clips secured to the rear wall embrace the glass pane, or the glass pane and rear wall are embraced by separate, rigid profile bars and these two profile bars are clamped by separate clips on the rear wall. All these known designs have various disadvantages. In the picture mounts having clips or hooks, it is often difficult for an unskilled person to exchange the glass panes because they can easily be damaged by the steel hooks and because a certain manual skill is required to bend the steel clips away from the glass panes. Besides, a quick-change picture mount which is held together only by clips in discrete positions has a rather unpleasant appearance owing to the clips. All these known designs require rigid rear walls so that the entire structure has a rather heavy weight.

It is an object of the invention to provide a picture mount which is free of all these disadvantages. This object is accomplished according to the invention in that the clamping bars are disposed on at least two opposite sides of the mount and comprise each a spring loop having shorter and longer spring legs, the shorter spring leg is connected to the rear wall, and the longer spring leg has a free end portion formed on its inside with a detent nose, which tapers towards the extreme outer end of the longer spring leg so that the same can yield resiliently when the glass pane is urged against said detent nose until the latter snaps in over the glass pane to hold the same in position on the rear wall.

This picture mount has the great advantage that the glass pane can simply be pulled out laterally when it is desired to exchange a picture. When the new picture has been inserted, the glass pane is engaged with one clamping bar under its detent nose and is urged with slight pressure against the opposite detent nose until the same snaps in over the glass pane.

An embodiment of the quick-change picture mount according to the invention is shown on the drawing in side elevation.

The picture mount comprises a rear wall 3 and clamping bars 1 disposed on two opposite sides of the rear wall. Each clamping bar 1 comprises a spring loop having two spring legs 2 and 6, which are connected by a rear web 7, which is approximately parallel to the rear wall 3. The shorter spring leg 6 is connected to the rear wall. The free end portion of the longer spring leg 2 is provided on its inside with a detent nose 4, which tapers toward the extreme outer end of the longer leg 2 so that the same can yield resiliently when the glass pane is urged against said detent nose 4 until the latter snaps in over the glass pane to hold the same reliably in position when the glass pane has been moved beyond the widest portion of the detent nose 4. In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the rear web 7 of each clamping bar is provided with a projection 8 which extends inwardly beyond the shorter leg 6. This projection enables the quick-change picture mount according to the invention to be supported by a bar, which is secured to a wall and formed with a suitable groove. To support the picture mount, the projection 8 is inserted into the groove of the supporting bar. A plurality of quick-change picture mounts according to the invention can be supported by one such supporting bar mounted on the wall. Greatly pleasing displays can thus be achieved.

It will be understood that pictures in these quick-change picture mounts can easily be exchanged even by unskilled persons. The rear wall 3 is slightly convexly curved against the glass pane so that the inserted picture will remain in position even when it is very small. The projection of the rear web beyond the shorter leg enables the mount to be supported in a very simple manner. With the aid of an additional profiled bar secured to a wall of a room, a plurality of picture mounts can be supported on one and the same level. The clamping bars made of plastics material are very thin and inconspicuous so that they do not disturb the appearance of the mount but even contribute to its styling.

The mounts according to the invention are now being manufactured in large quantities to satisfy the great demand by the consumers. This proves that the public have actually been waiting for such a functionally simple, neat and most inexpensive picture mount.

What 1 claim is:

1. A quick-change picture mount comprising a rear wall, a transparent pane adapted to be held relative to said rear wall, a plurality of clamping bars secured to said rear wall to embrace the edge of said transparent pane and hold it relative to said rear wall, each of said clamping bars comprising a spring loop having short and long spring legs, said short spring leg being secured to said rear wall and said long spring leg being connected to said short spring leg, each of said legs being substantially parallel to each other and generally perpendicular to said rear wall, said long spring leg having a free end portion defining an enlargement in the form of a detent so that said detent can yield resiliently when the transparent pane is urged against the detent until said detent snaps in over the transparent pane to hold the same in position relative to the rear wall.

2. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein said short spring leg has a support section adjacent to said rear wall and secured thereto.

3. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein said short spring leg is substantially L-shaped.

4. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein said spring loops short and long spring legs are connected by a web, said web extending past said short spring leg to form a support track.

5. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 4, wherein said short spring leg and said web form a substantially U-shaped support track.

6. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein said long spring leg is of such length as to extend above said rear wall and the transparent pane when said transparent pane is fitted therein.

7. A quick-change picture mount comprising a rear wall, a transparent pane adapted to be held adjacent said rear wall and a plurality of clamping bars secured to said rear wall to embrace the edge of said transparent pane and hold it adjacent said rear wall, each of said clamping bars being generally U-shaped, with one leg of the U" being shorter than the other leg, said shorter leg being connected to the longer leg by a web and secured to said rear wall, said longer leg being secured to said web and having a free end defining an enlargement in the form of a tapered detent nose so that the tapered detent nose can yield resiliently when the transparent pane is urged against the tapered detent nose it rides along the nose tap until the nose snaps over the transparent pane to hold the same in position adjacent said rear wall, said longer leg being substantially perpendicular to the plane of said rear wall and parallel to said shorter leg while extending past said rear wall.

8. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 7, wherein said shorter leg has a projection which extends perpendicular therefrom and is secured to said rear wall and said web extends inwardly past said shorter leg substantially parallel to said shorter leg projection to form a generally C- shaped" mounting track.

9. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 7, wherein said rear wall is slightly convexly curved in the direction of said transparent pane. 

1. A quick-change picture mount comprising a rear wall, a transparent pane adapted to be held relative to said rear wall, a plurality of clamping bars secured to said rear wall to embrace the edge of said transparent pane and hold it relative to said rear wall, each of said clamping bars comprising a spring loop having short and long spring legs, said short spring leg being secured to said rear wall and said long spring leg being connected to said short spring leg, each of said legs being substantially parallel to each other and generally perpendicular to said rear wall, said long spring leg having a free end portion defining an enlargement in the form of a detent so that said detent can yield resiliently when the transparent pane is urged against the detent until said detent snaps in over the transparent pane to hold the same in position relative to the rear wall.
 2. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein said short spring leg has a support section adjacent to said rear wall and secured thereto.
 3. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein said short spring leg is substantially L-shaped.
 4. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein said spring loop''s short and long spring legs are connected by a web, said web extending past said short spring leg to form a support track.
 5. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 4, wherein said short spring leg and said web form a substantially U-shaped support track.
 6. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 1, wherein said long spring leg is of such length as to extend above said rear wall and the transparent pane when said transparent pane is fitted therein.
 7. A quick-change picture mount comprising a rear wall, a transparent pane adapted to be held adjacent said rear wall and a plurality of clamping bars secured to said rear wall to embrace the edge of said transparent pane and hold it adjacent said rear wall, each of said clamping bars being generally U-shaped, with one leg of the ''''U'''' being shorter than the other leg, said shorter leg being cOnnected to the longer leg by a web and secured to said rear wall, said longer leg being secured to said web and having a free end defining an enlargement in the form of a tapered detent nose so that the tapered detent nose can yield resiliently when the transparent pane is urged against the tapered detent nose it rides along the nose tap until the nose snaps over the transparent pane to hold the same in position adjacent said rear wall, said longer leg being substantially perpendicular to the plane of said rear wall and parallel to said shorter leg while extending past said rear wall.
 8. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 7, wherein said shorter leg has a projection which extends perpendicular therefrom and is secured to said rear wall and said web extends inwardly past said shorter leg substantially parallel to said shorter leg projection to form a generally ''''C-shaped'''' mounting track.
 9. A quick-change picture mount as claimed in claim 7, wherein said rear wall is slightly convexly curved in the direction of said transparent pane. 